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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA – Elementary and junior high students throughout Santa Barbara County competed in a battle of literary wit at the Santa Barbara County Education Office’s 24th annual Battle of the Books event series.
Participating students prepare year-round for the event by reading – and often re-reading – books from a designated list before tackling friendly “battles” against other teams to test their knowledge through trivia questions about plot, characters, and theme.
This year, more than 250 4th-8th grade students took part in the three events, which included two elementary in-person Battles and a junior high school individual virtual Battle.
At the elementary level, students are placed on teams with peers from different schools across the county. Each group invents a team name, which they proudly display on their literary “battle shield” throughout the event. This year, students were quizzed on 26 different titles during three nail-biting rounds, ending with the final “Battle Royale” – a friendly, but intense showdown of the two top teams.
The winners of the Santa Maria-based elementary Battle hosted on April 15, 2025 were:
- 1st place went to team “The Aluminum Pie Comets” with students representing:
- Bill Libbon Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
- Manzanita Charter (Lompoc Unified School District)
- Oak Valley Elementary (Buellton Union School District)
- Rice Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
- Tunnell Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
- 2nd place team went to team “Across the Dessert” with students representing:
- Bill Libbon Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
- Buena Vista Elementary (Lompoc Unified School District)
- Fairlawn Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
- Jiménez Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
- Manzanita Charter (Lompoc Unified School District)
The winners of the Santa Barbara-based elementary Battle hosted on April 24, 2025 were:
- 1st place went to team “The Wishing Books” with students representing:
- Canalino Elementary (Carpinteria Unified School District)
- Cold Spring School (Cold Spring School District)
- Ellwood School (Goleta Union School District)
- Foothill Elementary (Goleta Union School District)
- La Patera School (Goleta Union School District)
- Washington Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
- 2nd place went to team “The Land of Readers” with students representing:
- Adams Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
- Cold Spring School (Cold Spring School District)
- Hope Elementary (Hope School District)
- La Patera School (Goleta Union School District)
- Monroe Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
- Vieja Valley Elementary (Hope School District)
At the junior high level, congratulations to Vandenberg Middle School (Lompoc Unified School District), which had the top 3 scorers at the junior high Battle hosted virtually on April 9, 2025.
“I really enjoyed Battle of the Books last year, and I have a good memory and am a fast reader, so it is just the thing for me,” shared a 5th grader from Mountain View Elementary who returned for her second year. “I love that Battle of the Books is a place where you can come after reading a lot of books and meet new people.”
“Congratulations to the winning teams and all the participants of this year’s Battle of the Books! It is such an inspiration to see the level of preparation and teamwork these students bring to the event,” shared Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido. “It is a joy seeing the students’ love of reading on full display during this cross-county friendly battle!’
The Santa Barbara County Education Office will also host a Spanish-language version of the Battle of the Books, Batalla de los Libros. The event invites Dual Language Immersion students from across Santa Barbara County to gather virtually on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 and compete in Spanish on a list of Spanish-language books they read throughout the year.
The reading lists for next year’s Battles are scheduled to be released in late May 2025 at: sbceo.org/battle.
